NATALIE Powell fought her way to the final of the women's under 78kg judo final only to fall at the last hurdle on Wednesday.

The Builth Wells star came up against England's Emma Reid and lost by an early waza ari despite dominating the final.

Earlier in the day Powell beat Franceska Agathe of Mauritius by waza ari and Canadian Coralie Godbout by ippon to make the final.

However the former Irfon Judo Club star was left heartbroken as her dream to be crowned Commonwealth Games champion for a second time were dashed.

Despite defeat there was no disgrace for the Powys ace in the battle of the Home Nations with Reid the current British champion.

Powell is made of stern stuff and her fans were among the crowd to offer vocal support throughout.

Powell hails from the village of Beulah, near Builth Wells and took up judo from the age of eight.

She won silver at the European Open in 2014 and then stormed to gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow that same year at the age of 23.

Powell was ranked world No.1 in 2017 – the first UK judoka to reach that pinnacle after the introduction of an official ranking list.

“I always wanted to win at the Commonwealth Games, ever since I was at Irfon Judo Club and Gary Cole came back with a bronze medal from Manchester.

“Winning in Glasgow was really special. We only get to compete for Wales at the Commonwealths and Wales were the ones that supported me all the way through as well."

Powell also endured the frustration of the pandemic which hampered her hopes for the Olympic Games in 2020.

However heading into the Games the Powys star was firmly back to her best.

She said "I'm enjoying judo again and hoping to get back to my form for the Commonwealths and the Worlds in October."

Meanwhile Builth Wells is celebrating after Lowri Thomas helped Wales to bronze in the women's team sprint finals on day one of the Commonwealth Games in London.

Thomas is from Abergavenny but has links to the south Powys town where her grandparents live.

They clocked 47.767 seconds to pip Australia for a place on the podium by more than three tenths of a second, with New Zealand winning gold and Canada claiming silver at London's Lee Valley VeloPark, where track cycling is taking place despite Birmingham hosting the Games.

However Knighton's Phoebe Richards suffered heartbreak after injury forced her to withdraw from the Welsh women's squad on the eve of the Games and missed out on representing her country.